Saturday, July 31, 2010

I didn't get a chance to set up the camera to record work on the Harley commission today, but I do have a panel I did this morning. This is a penciled panel from a story I am doing with J.C. Vaughn for a book that will be published by Moonstone. I am inking, lettering and providing gray tones for the story too.

Friday, July 30, 2010

The next step in the Canson Cutie Process. I have inked the transfered image on the red Canson paper. Next step will be adding color pencil, marker, white ink and anything else I can think of to get the finished look. Maybe I will record some of the color work tomorrow and post it here and on my YouTube Channel.

Deena and I went out for an early dinner tonight for some outstanding seafood. She had Sea Bass and I had Swordfish. Yum! Look who showed up uninvited on the butcher paper table cover...

Thursday, July 29, 2010

I thought I would share the next step in the Harley commission. I took the 3" x 4" sketch I posted yesterday and enlarged in Photoshop to fit on an 11" x 17" piece of paper. I printed that out at 10% black so it was only a faint image. I worked out the drawing over that image. I drew in the Joker face on the mallet and flopped the Batman shadow for a better composition. I will now use my light table to transfer the image to a piece of red Canson paper.

The red behind the image above is done in Photoshop, just to give an idea of how the image looks with the background color. It's not exact though.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I have started a Canson Cutie of Harley and these are the three ideas I submitted for the commission. #1 was the selection and I think this is going to be a good one. :) I still like the other two and will file those away for another day.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

This is an idea I have for a Canson Cutie I am going to do for fun. I have a Harley Canson Cutie commission to do and I have sent three different pose/ideas to the person commissioning it. While waiting to hear back from him I played with this. It's odd to only have one commission on my list after having about 14 over the last two months.

This was done in pencil and ink on 11" x 17" copy paper. I added the color in Photoshop.

Monday, July 26, 2010

This is a theme I keep coming back to. I wonder what that says about me?

Today was a busy work day and busy personal day. A lot was accomplished with only a few things left on the to do list. Always a nice situation to be in. Tomorrow morning I will be scanning the last of the roughs for an illustration job I am doing. Finished them yesterday but was so busy I didn't get a chance to scan them. Thought I had until Wednesday, but found out this evening they are needed asap. Sigh.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

I listen to and watch a lot of podcasts while I work. Today I was doing some DC work and listening to Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast. It was an older Q&A with the principles of IRON MAN 2. So I had Black Widow on my mind. I did a rough pencil sketch of the figure while working. Just the gesture really. When I quit for the day I brought it into Photoshop and just cut the shapes. Different? Yes. Cool? Maybe. Fun to do? Definitely.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Today has not been a very productive day and I think I will call it quits. Had family things to take care of this morning and I have been feeling a little under the weather. Actually, I was feeling this way yesterday too. Nothing I can pin point, just headache and general lousiness. It'll pass, I'm very lucky that I stay pretty healthy. Not getting any of the bugs that seem to knock people out for days. Or anything that requires seeing a doctor. (Good thing too, it's not like I can call in sick to work) I will get a head cold once a year maybe, but that's really about it. Probably means everything is building up to the point that when I do get sick, it will land me in a hospital. But for now it just means I will be working all weekend to catch up. Sigh.

I did this page today and thought it was funny that I drew Storm. It didn't occur to me that it's raining today and I feel under the weather, as it were. Sometimes the subconscious just kinda takes the wheel for a while. I have no idea why Wolverine is there though. Hmmmm.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I still have a few more hours of work to go but I thought I would put this up now. I finished this earlier in the afternoon. It's pretty quick and rough but I had fun with it. A little ink and some Photoshop colors and there you go. The inspiration? I just got The Creeper by Steve Ditko hardcover the DC recently published. :)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I just finished the two cartoons (top and middle left) for a client that I thought I would share. Then I thought I would show a sample of the work I have done for them over the years. Working with them for over a decade, I have had the chance to work on a wide variety of projects with an even wider variety of subject matter. Styles and mediums are dictated by that subject matter. Being able to switch gears and do different things, project to project is one of the reasons I love what I do for a living.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

This is the last of the commissions for Alex. And another character I have never heard of or drawn. So this was a bit of a challenge, especially that headdress! Yikes! And I didn't want to do a straight-on shot of her face. That would be too easy. I am always up for a challenge and I think it worked out pretty nicely. :)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Another commission I managed to finish up today. This is for Alex. Actually the Daredevil piece from Saturday was also for Alex. :) I rarely get a request for the Enchantress but I really dig drawing her. I know nothing about the character whatsoever, but I like the look and design. Thanks for the commissions Alex! We have one more to go!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Here are a few odds and ends from my sketchbook. These were various ideas for two of the Conventionless Convention Sketches from last week. I spent another day doing pencil illustrations for an education book and I can't show them. So it's the sketchbook for you!

One more thing...since I am posting some of the roughs I did for the Saturn Girl sketch, did anyone notice that the shape of her "bomb" looked familiar, or was I just too clever for my own good? :)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

This is just a quick 10 minute pencil sketch I did from an image I found online. I did the drawing so I could take it into Photoshop and tryout a demo of a program called ScreenFlow. I have been wanting to to this for a while. I did a very quick 10 minute color job on the image. Just playing with various brushes, opacity and flow of paint. Not really attempting to do a finished painting, just wanting to see how the recording program worked. If you are interested in seeing the video as well as the photo I used as reference for the face, check out my YouTube channel. I sped up the video to last only 3 minutes so as not to bore anyone too much. Because this is a demo of the software, there is a great big watermark in the middle of the screen. :)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

This is the last of the Conventionless Convention Sketches. This one took a while to finish because I got hammered with work that I didn't expect. Even though I managed to get two done a day at the beginning, working 12-15 hours days over the weekend took it's toll on me. Monday and Tuesday were not much better. But she is done now.

This was done for Michael. He has an extensive and really cool theme of "Bombshells" art. I have done a few and it was really fun to revisit the theme. After you are done here, you really owe it to yourself to see his collection here on the ComicArtFans site. Thanks again for the commission Michael and for gearing it toward my fondness for all things Legion! It's too bad you have a Mary Marvel Bombshell, I had a fun idea for one. ;)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I'm afraid that for all the art work I did today, I cannot show a thing. (Darn NDAs) But I do have something that I did a week or so ago and hadn't had a chance to share yet. A photographer friend has a sketchbook with a theme of cameras. Now she loves pin-up art and prefers a pin-up piece for the sketchbook, but it has to have a camera in it. Well, I can really go for that theme, as you can imagine. Below is the picture I did for her book. It was done using a Terra Cotta Col-Erase pencil. I purposely used a color pencil on the piece as a statement. Seems someone once told her that real artists don't use color pencils. A statement that we both agree is wrong and I personally think is snobbery. Below is the digital sketch I did to work out the idea. And just for the record, the young lady is holding a Canon G9. :)

I did manage to quit work at 5 today. My friend Chris is in town from the Great White North. I met Chris years ago at the Pittsburgh ComiCon, doing Power Girl sketches for him. When I moved to Florida I found out that he vacations here every year for the last 30 years or so. So when he is down here we make it a point to have dinner. And I think he will be visiting the studio tomorrow which will be fun.

Monday, July 12, 2010

I expected to be showing the last sketch from the Conventionless Convention Sketch list, but the revisions I started this morning on a project went on for 10 hours. I knew in the first hour I was in trouble and I needed to get it done today. I finished it up about 8pm. Whew! :)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

I still have one more Conventionless Convention Sketch to finish but not today. What was going to be a slow week last week, hence the sketches, turned out to be a very busy one. One that extended into the weekend and weekend nights. It has been 13-15 hour days that included doing the sketches because I was committed to keeping them on the schedule I set. It all worked out too, so all is well. I finished up a project for DC this morning and managed to go to the Rays game this afternoon. (They won 6-5 in the 10th, by the way. Go Rays!). But I didn't finish the last sketch for Swanshadow. I will take care of that tomorrow and that will be 12 sketches in one week. And they were all a lot of fun. A nice variety too. Thanks to everyone who purchased one, two, or three. :)

The sketch deal generated more interest in the Canson Cuties. So there will be a few of those coming in the next few weeks. Starting tomorrow, it's going to be a very bumpy and busy few weeks, but tonight, I am going to relax and just post this sketch I did this morning, between finishing work and leaving for the ball game. Good night everyone. See you tomorrow. :)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Today we have a creator owned character. This is Black Phoenix. I don't know a lot about her but her creator, Jonathan can probably give us the info in the comments section. She is a visually interesting character though. When I saw the design I knew I had to do something with the hem spinning out as if she is turning. Fun stuff!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Another trip to Gotham tonight courtesy of Brian "Batmite" Jones. Brian asked for a Commissioner Gordon image, and maybe have him waiting on Batman. I thought that naturally the Bat Signal would have to be there but I didn't want it to dominate the image. So I had this idea for the stark, high contrast image in the rain and here it is. Check out what Gordon is holding in his hand to see why he feels the need to call in the big guy.

Thanks for the commission Brian. It's always fun to visit Gotham with you.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Today we have a pair of Legionnaires for Michael. He was going to go with a pair from the Cockrum/Grell period but he casually mentioned liking the Five Years Later characters. Well, I enjoyed that run as well and that prompted my first sketches of the following characters.

First up is Kono. She is a rather mischievous girl and a thief at one time. Though her thieving days are behind her since becoming a Legionnaire, she still likes to cause trouble. In a playful way, of course. Kono's powers are almost of combination of Star Boy and Phantom Girl. To find out more about her, check out this page on MajorSpoilers.com. There is a good write up about Kono there.

Next up is Devlin O'Ryan. He has the ability to repel attacks back at his attackers. It works with weapons, magic and brute force. Pretty handy ability. More about Devlin here at MajorSpoilers.com.

By the way, if you have never been to MajorSpoilers.com, you should check it out. It's one of my favorites. :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Long day today folks. Just as one project was coming in late, another project came up as a priority. Ah, the life of a freelance illustrator. :) Regardless, I am still on track for the Conventionless Convention Sketches. First up is BATMAN for Adam. I had fun with this piece. Batman is a tough character for me to nail down but I think I did pretty good here. Thanks Adam!

Next up is the New Mutant, Sunspot. This was requested by Jon. Jon loves Canson pieces and wanted a Sunspot. Since a silhouette on white paper didn't seem to exciting, he thought if I put it on a sheet of color paper it would work out. Good call, so I went with a yellowish paper for the character. Thanks Jon!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Today's odd pairing come to you courtesy of Royce. The first is Ma Kent. I have done a number of silver age Superman Family pieces over the years, most for Royce I suspect, but this is the first time I had a Ma Kent request. Now I was only going to have Ma holding an apple pie or something along those lines, but then I thought it would be better to put her in context to her place in the icons history. Ma and Pa Kent made Clark Kent who his today, the greatest hero this world has ever seen. So baby Clark needed to be in this shot giving Ma that proud smile.

Now I guess I could have combined Ma with the young lady below but that might have been a bit disturbing. Next up represents a possible theme for Royce's art collection. Something close to his heart, so to speak. :) Here we have a cardiac nurse checking on Royce's ticker. I'm afraid it might be running a bit fast under the circumstances. Oh, and the nurse, she's a redhead. Trust me. And that makes her Royce's own brand of "kryptonite" if you didn't know. ;)

Both pieces were done in ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. Thanks again Royce!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Today we have a girl empowered with the abilities of six goddesses and a woman empowered with the abilities of one goddess. Kind of a theme today.

First up is Mary Marvel. I went back to her earliest look for my interpretation of the Shazam girl. Looking at some WOW COMICS covers really helped. Since a lot of artists do the lightning striking in the image, I went for a shot that takes place just after the lightning and transformation.

Next up is Isis. I attempted the version I remember from television. Not going for a likeness of Isis actress Joanna Cameron but going for the character's look back then, not the recent version. And while working on this I had to look at pictures of Ms. Cameron as Isis, which isn't a bad thing at all. I had such a crush on her back then. :)

Both of these were done for Michael. And both were done with ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. Thanks for the commissions Michael!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

I just finished this one up this afternoon for Comix Book Gurl, Lisa. This design came in second when Lisa had to choose one image from the three roughs I did for her previous Catwoman Canson Cutie. We always knew we would get to this one and here it is. This was done in ink and color pencils on a sheet of 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Thanks for the commission(s) Lisa, your enthusiasm for my work is greatly appreciated. And Lisa, you need to post a link to those really cool photos of you. They were great!

No Room On The List

Yup, the list is full and tomorrow I will be starting on the Conventionless Convention Sketchs. If you are on the list and you haven't told me what you want, please do so as soon as possible. I don't normally work in order of the list. I like to bounce around to wherever the muse takes me. So please email me your request(s) if you haven't already. I'm really looking forward to doing these. This will be a lot of fun!

Friday, July 2, 2010

I want to take today's post to recognize something I just found out about earlier this week. I was shocked to hear that our own Royce Thrower endured not one, BUT TWO heart attacks right after HeroesCon last month. One person would think having just one in a day would be enough, but Royce is what you might call an over-achiever. My thinking is he told his first heart attack "Is that all you got, punk?" and then laughed through the second one came shortly thereafter. You are the MAN Royce!

Seriously, I am sorry you had to go through that whole thing. I can't imagine what it was like. But I am very happy that you are doing better and getting stronger. Take care of yourself!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I have some fun news to share. I was contacted by Canson Paper about a month ago. A representative had seen my blog and emailed me to say she liked my work. She also asked me if I would like to some samples of some new art boards. They value the feedback of artists and wanted me to see the new boards, paper and pads. As all of you know, I use a lot of Canson paper and boards. Uh, "Canson Cuties", anyone? :) Of course I said yes. The package arrived a couple of weeks ago but my work load prevented any real play time with the new supplies. Some of the sketchbook postings have been on a pad of Canson Drawing Paper. This is part of their Foundation Series. The two sketches of girls with men's shirts on were done on this paper and I talked a bit about it. Below is the first time I have put some color on the paper and I like it a lot. I used Copic Markers and Pens on this image. This paper is so white and crisp. It holds the color nicely but still manages to allow blending. I think I have found my favorite new sketch pad. As I get a chance I will be trying out the other boards. I've got this big 16 X 20 gray board that I am dying to work on. :)

CONVENTIONLESS CONVENTION SKETCHES ARE BACK!

I had thought I would be busy next week but things got pushed off as they sometimes do. So with some time on my hands I thought I would open up a CONVENTIONLESS CONVENTION SKETCH DEAL!

It's been a long time since I ran one so some of you might wonder what is a CONVENTIONLESS CONVENTION SKETCH DEAL! It's just like a regular con sketch that I would do for you at a show, except no crowds, no hotel bill, and no travel. And the price is the same as a show sketch.

$50.00 for a single character, inked on 11" x 17" bristol board. Add $10.00 for shipping (My normal studio price is $75.00 plus shipping!) You can get up to three and shipping is still only $10.00.

I am only going to take a total of 12 commissions. All will be done between July 5th - 12th. Payment is PayPal only. (No "e-checks, please) If you are interested, send me an email to gene_gonzales@mac.com with Conventionless Convention Sketch in the subject line and let me know what you would like. That email is also my PayPal account, but check with me before sending money, please. Also, if you have any questions, please email me.

I might start sooner than July 5th, it all depends on a Catwoman Canson Cutie I am finishing this weekend. :)